Integration of Agricultural Statistics System in India A Presentation By Dhrijesh K Tiwari Fourth International Conference on Agriculture Statistics, October 2007, Beijing, China

Structure of the Presentation Some Facts The Present System of Agricultural Statistics in India Integration of Agricultural Statistics System in India

Some Facts An estimated 1138 million people in 2007 About 65 percent of this population depends on agriculture Agriculture and allied sectors contribute about 20 percent to the national GDP Share of agricultural exports to the national exports is about 10 percent

The Present System of Agricultural Statistics in India Agricultural statistics system is decentralized Agriculture is a Provincial subject Agricultural statistics is in the Concurrent List of the Constitution Primary statistics are collected by the provincial governments and consolidated for the country by the national Ministry of Agriculture. 35 Provinces / Union Territories

Major data sources for agriculture statistics Agriculture Census Input Survey Livestock Census Marine Fisheries Census Land Use Survey Land Use Survey of National Remote Sensing Agency General Crop Estimation Survey Integrated Sample Survey of Major Livestock Products The Present System…

Agriculture census is conducted once in 5 years. It is conducted in Three Phases: –Phase-I: Complete enumeration of the operational holdings in the country –Phase-II:Sample Survey. 20 percent of the villages selected in each Block of a province. –Phase-III: Called “Input Survey”. 7 percent of the total number of villages in a province selected. Marine Fisheries Census is conducted to collect data on inland fishery.

The Present System… Livestock census is conducted quinquinnially and collects information on livestock population, category-wise, along with age and sex. It also provides disaggregated information on poultry, agricultural implements & machinery. Land use survey is conducted annually and is based on 9-fold classification. National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA) of India conducted a land use survey using remote sensing technique in the year in which the land was classified into 22 categories.

The Present System… Integrated sample survey is conducted annually to estimate data on major livestock products such as milk, wool and eggs. General crop estimation survey is done for the estimation of crop yields through crop cutting experiments.

The Present System… Province N Province 2 Agriculture Ministry Other Ministry N Other Ministry 2 Other Ministry 1 Province 1

Integration of Agricultural Statistics System Integration is envisaged for optimum utilization of available resources, both human and financial, so as to cover maximum possible domains for generating timely and reliable statistics. Need for a “Core Group”, of which every ministry producing agricultural statistics should be a member. In India, Integration is being attempted through the National Statistical Commission.

Integration… Set up on 12 th July 2005, it is the nodal and empowered body for all core statistical activities of the country Some major functions of NSC are to: –identify the core statistics which are critical to the development of the economy –lay down national quality standards on core statistics –evolve national strategies for the collection, tabulation and dissemination of core statistics including the release calendar –exercise statistical co-ordination between ministries, departments and other agencies –evolve measures for improving public trust in official statistics The National Statistical Commission (NSC)

Integration… National Statistical Commission Ministry 1 (Data Producer/ User) Ministry 2 (Data Producer/ User) Planning Commission (Data User) Ministry N (Data Producer/ User) Research Institutes (Data User) Model of Integration at the National Level

Integration… Reducing the number of ministries responsible for producing the agricultural statistics to a bear minimum Merging the surveys wherever feasible Synchronizing the start/end of various surveys and processing of data Periodic conduct of “Situation Assessment Survey of Farmers” by the National Sample Survey Organisation has the potential of obviating several other surveys. Some of the ways to achieve the integration could be:

Integration… While the integration of agricultural statistics within itself aims at optimum utilization of resources, better management of various surveys and generation of timely and reliable data, a larger picture envisages better and improved life for the population involved in and dependent on agriculture. Eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, raising education levels, taking care of health needs, promoting gender equality and ensuring environmental sustainability necessitate integration of agricultural statistics with education, health, gender and environment statistics, among others.

Integration… To put proper policy interventions in place, it is necessary that all the relevant data are available and are easily accessible. To ensure this, the following model is suggested: –Set up a Statistical Research Division (SRD) in the Agriculture Ministry –Set up an Information & Communication Technology Division (ICTD)

Integration… The job of the SRD would be to: –Identify the data domains with data items –Check the availability of data (web based/printed document) –Identify data gaps – Go to the National Statistical Office for identifying the Agency for filling the data gap –Identify the Source Agencies –Be in touch with the Source Agencies –Decide the way in which data should be disseminated –Pass on the cleaned data to ICT Division

Integration… The job of the ICTD would be to: –Digitize the data where they are available in the printed form –Disseminate data through web –Design a Home Page giving links to each independent data domain as identified by the SRD –Maintain the database

Integration… Source Agency 1 Source Agency 2 SRD in Agriculture Ministry ICTD in Agriculture Ministry Source Agency…N Scheme of functioning of SRD and ICTD

Integration… Large number of industries agro-based Heavily depend upon the government for their data requirements May be asked to part share the financial burden of carrying out the surveys Revenue generation through advertisements on government portals should be considered Partnership with the Private Organizations

Thank You !!!